Now in print: Marine, father of six, pens homicide thriller

Christopher Murphy with his first novel, a murder mystery called 'Nashua.'

Maria Sestito / The Daily News

By KATIE HANSEN Daily News Staff

Published: Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 07:08 PM.

Maj. Christopher Murphy is not your typical Marine.

Murphy, who has been a Marine for 14 years and worked as a police officer for three years in New Hampshire, also recently became a published author.

His novel, titled Nashua, is a thriller about how a New Hampshire city falls into turmoil at the onset of a rash of homicides.

The book pivots around the investigators searching for a serial killer in the city of Nashua, N.H., when one unwittingly becomes the target of the murderer.

Murphy, who lives in Sneads Ferry with his wife and their six daughters and is stationed at Camp Lejeune with Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, was born in Nashua. He worked as a cop in Merrimack, a town near there, and pulled from his own life experience to write the book.

“I did work as a police officer, minor incidents did inspire it, but the story is all mine,” Murphy said. “That helped me with the terminology, how the police interact with people and with each other.”

Murphy, who has been a Marine for 14 years and worked as a police officer for three years in New Hampshire, also recently became a published author.

His novel, titled Nashua, is a thriller about how a New Hampshire city falls into turmoil at the onset of a rash of homicides.

The book pivots around the investigators searching for a serial killer in the city of Nashua, N.H., when one unwittingly becomes the target of the murderer.

Murphy, who lives in Sneads Ferry with his wife and their six daughters and is stationed at Camp Lejeune with Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, was born in Nashua. He worked as a cop in Merrimack, a town near there, and pulled from his own life experience to write the book.

“I did work as a police officer, minor incidents did inspire it, but the story is all mine,” Murphy said. “That helped me with the terminology, how the police interact with people and with each other.”

He said it also helped him write believable dialogue and mindsets for his characters.

Murphy promised readers will receive witty police and morbid crime scene humor, “caustic characters forced to work out of their box,” characters facing internal struggles as well as professional turmoil and a genuine look into the distinct New England culture.

Nashua, a quiet city just north of Boston, is unaccustomed to events of this nature, according to Murphy.

“Stuff like that doesn’t happen there so when it does it turns everything upside down,” Murphy said.

For readers here in the south, Murphy said it will be interesting for them to see the differences in how New England law enforcement would handle the situation — either with the city or the state leading the investigation, as opposed to the county getting involved.

Murphy said his book was partly inspired by movies such as The Departed and Mystic River, and books by novelist James Patterson.

He said it took him two years to write the novel in between his work as a Marine.

“I wrote when I could,” he said.

Murphy just returned from deployment where he served as camp commandant at Camp Dwyer.

During his deployment, he worked on his second book, which he said is another crime novel loosely related to his first.

“There’s a couple character cross-overs,” he said, but it won’t be as violent because this book will not feature a serial killer.

Nashua can be ordered at abbottpress.com, amazon.com, or barnesandnoble.com.

He also invites people to visit him and learn more about his novel online at nashuabychristophermurphy.com. Murphy will be signing books at Barnes and Noble in the Wilmington and Jacksonville locations, and when those times are scheduled, the information will be available on his website.

Want one?

Buy Nashua by Christopher Murphy in hardcover, softcover and e-book at abbottpress.com, amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.